Our last day! We had all of our bags packed with mixed feelings. We could not stay around the hotel really but they did allow us to lock our suitcases up in their storage so we could come back later, our flight wasn't until 11.30pm so we had to amuse ourselves for a while longer.
We all headed back to our lovely swimming pool. Spent hours there! Had a lovely time at the pool bar and swam a lot as well as sunbathing. We taught Sani how to swim, not many African people can swim, he did very well and manage to get across the pool on his own.
Everyone got out between 2.30pm-3pm and we headed into the posh hotel where they had a chinese restaurant. The plan was that the group would spend their remaining Cedi on a chinese meal. We explained delicately that Tim-Afrik members were welcome to join us but everyone was paying for their own food and drink. Sani joined us, so did Sarah.
The food was lovely, we had a private room as we were a large group, with a spinning table. Everyone kept putting their cameras onto the table and switching to video mode as it spun past everyones faces - it looked great!
People said what their favourite parts of the holiday were. Sani said he was thrilled to be included in our Chinese meal and was gushing with happiness.
We headed back to the hotel where all of Tim-Afrik had gathered to say goodbye. It was actually quite emotional. I noticed that Tim and Derrik were a little off, I still think they don't quite understand that we cannot afford to pay for everything for everyone all the time. This put a little dampner on things.
There were some tears and we headed off to the airport, a member of Tim-Afrik came in each taxi to make sure we were ok.
Final goodbyes and then we all had to pile into the airport, they weren't allowed to come in with us. We had to wait for several hours after check in, but this was broken up by moving from room to room. Several people spent their last cedi on the duty free shop and soon we were boarding the plane.
We had a stop in Trippoli for some time. Everyone was really tired and had not slept well on the plane over night. Trippoli is not particularly nice, well the airport isn't. We felt very sectioned off from the Arab and African people and were made to wait while these people were allowed ahead of us - this was possibly heightened by paranoia from lack of sleep!
It was great to be on the final flight home and soon we were back at Gatwick!
Many slept on the way home on the minibus, some were reminiscing already and everyone was looking forward to seeing families! We got in a little bit late, we said goodbye after an amazing experience and headed home...to bed!
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
SATURDAY 19th April 2008
We asked Tim-Afrik to take us to a place where the group could go swimming safely. So we all piled into taxis and ended up at the Shang-rila Hotel. It was very posh and had an amazing pool where people could pay to use it for the day even if they werent staying at the hotel itself.
The pool was huge and had a bar in it! Everyone got into swimming costumes and sun cream and dived in. It was lovely but the sun was so hot and shade was required at regular intervals for a lot of people.
The day was pretty relaxed! We headed home and the group agreed they would like to come back tomorrow before the flight home!
The pool was huge and had a bar in it! Everyone got into swimming costumes and sun cream and dived in. It was lovely but the sun was so hot and shade was required at regular intervals for a lot of people.
The day was pretty relaxed! We headed home and the group agreed they would like to come back tomorrow before the flight home!
FRIDAY 18th April 2008
Today we all piled into a minibus to go visit the National Park, where the rope bridges are! The two hour drive which Tim had promised turned out to be a 3 hour drive.
It was great to see more of Africa but I could feel that the whole group were getting tired by this point, it had been a long two weeks for them in a completely different country.
We finally arrived at the park and everyone got their tickets to go on the bridges. Myself and Terri stayed behind because she has high blood pressure and I have a small fear of heights, plus I wanted to keep her company as I didn't know how long everyone would be.
So, while most of my youth theatre were suspended 100 foot above the trees on 7 long rope bridges, we sat and drank pineapple juice.
They appeared to have enjoyed the experience as they all tumbled back into the main area, I think I would have gone if I had been 100% confident that no one would have swung the bridges. Vicky had swung the bridges - I would have screamed. We bought some things from the incredibly expensive gift shop and then headed back pretty quickly!
On the way we stopped at Derriks house (after I had told Tim that we were not going to visit anymore families, this was ignored and I was not happy but what can you do?) We swung my Marthas, were she was told we weren't coming. We felt bad but Tim had obviously been making promises to them knowing full well what I had told him a few days before, he thought he could get away with it but I wanted to make sure our kids went to the Ocean Bar as I had promised them.
It was nice to meet Derriks family, we had a bit of a dance and drank pop and then ended up at Kassims! We drank more pop and Kassim ushered us all away pretty quickly, knowing that we had to be gone. We found out that ALL families had been waiting for us since 8am, Tim had made so many promises without consulting us, we felt bad as we had tried to make things clear ages ago.
We finally got to the Ocean Bar and it was pouring with rain. But I had made a promise, so off we went. Luckily they did have an inside area where we sat and ate food until the weather improved. Then all the gang ended up on the dancefloor once again! It was a pretty good night and we met some wonderful people this time.
Abbi really wanted to give Sani some cards as he had picked up on card games really well. I happened to have a pack on me and pushed them into her hands as he came over. She gave him the present and he was so delighted. They sat and played cards for some time together, now he can teach his friends.
It was great to see more of Africa but I could feel that the whole group were getting tired by this point, it had been a long two weeks for them in a completely different country.
We finally arrived at the park and everyone got their tickets to go on the bridges. Myself and Terri stayed behind because she has high blood pressure and I have a small fear of heights, plus I wanted to keep her company as I didn't know how long everyone would be.
So, while most of my youth theatre were suspended 100 foot above the trees on 7 long rope bridges, we sat and drank pineapple juice.
They appeared to have enjoyed the experience as they all tumbled back into the main area, I think I would have gone if I had been 100% confident that no one would have swung the bridges. Vicky had swung the bridges - I would have screamed. We bought some things from the incredibly expensive gift shop and then headed back pretty quickly!
On the way we stopped at Derriks house (after I had told Tim that we were not going to visit anymore families, this was ignored and I was not happy but what can you do?) We swung my Marthas, were she was told we weren't coming. We felt bad but Tim had obviously been making promises to them knowing full well what I had told him a few days before, he thought he could get away with it but I wanted to make sure our kids went to the Ocean Bar as I had promised them.
It was nice to meet Derriks family, we had a bit of a dance and drank pop and then ended up at Kassims! We drank more pop and Kassim ushered us all away pretty quickly, knowing that we had to be gone. We found out that ALL families had been waiting for us since 8am, Tim had made so many promises without consulting us, we felt bad as we had tried to make things clear ages ago.
We finally got to the Ocean Bar and it was pouring with rain. But I had made a promise, so off we went. Luckily they did have an inside area where we sat and ate food until the weather improved. Then all the gang ended up on the dancefloor once again! It was a pretty good night and we met some wonderful people this time.
Abbi really wanted to give Sani some cards as he had picked up on card games really well. I happened to have a pack on me and pushed them into her hands as he came over. She gave him the present and he was so delighted. They sat and played cards for some time together, now he can teach his friends.
THURSDAY 17th April 2008
Today was pretty nice, we had made it clear to Tim that we could not afford the minibus every day and that we wanted to go to the National Park on Friday as we had missed a lot of the trips that he had promised us. I also mentioned to him again that it was not fair to expect us to visit every family of Tim-Afriks members, although we were happy to send them gifts.
So Fusion split into two groups today. A group of us travelled out to the Arts Market again where we wanted to have a go at haggling for ourselves and the other group went for a walk to see what they would find.
We bumped into Kassim on the way, completely by accident! We were proud we had remembered the way and must have looked very confident. It was strange seeing someone we knew suddenly walk into sight. Kassim came with us and it was nice, we also met up with Sani. These guys are brilliant and never expect anything from us, they buy their own drinks and are so helpful
The other group had Morrison with them who turned up when we had left, he helped them find their way to have their hair braided and pick up some little presents.
We taught Kassim a schoolyard trick with some folded paper, he loved it and kept the game with him in his bag. While we were in the Arts Markets, a huge sandstorm erupted outside and sand swept through the indoor market where we had managed to hide. It was intense. Once it was over we saw so many shop keepers creeping out to take their stock back outside or wiping down their items which were now covered in dirt!
Everyone wanted to go out to the Ocean Bar but rain had come and it was quite bad so Kassim advised us to go another time. We had a vote and the majority ruled to go on Friday night, mainly because we wanted to be up early for the National Park in the morning. Some weren't happy with the result but at least it was a fair vote.
So Fusion split into two groups today. A group of us travelled out to the Arts Market again where we wanted to have a go at haggling for ourselves and the other group went for a walk to see what they would find.
We bumped into Kassim on the way, completely by accident! We were proud we had remembered the way and must have looked very confident. It was strange seeing someone we knew suddenly walk into sight. Kassim came with us and it was nice, we also met up with Sani. These guys are brilliant and never expect anything from us, they buy their own drinks and are so helpful
The other group had Morrison with them who turned up when we had left, he helped them find their way to have their hair braided and pick up some little presents.
We taught Kassim a schoolyard trick with some folded paper, he loved it and kept the game with him in his bag. While we were in the Arts Markets, a huge sandstorm erupted outside and sand swept through the indoor market where we had managed to hide. It was intense. Once it was over we saw so many shop keepers creeping out to take their stock back outside or wiping down their items which were now covered in dirt!
Everyone wanted to go out to the Ocean Bar but rain had come and it was quite bad so Kassim advised us to go another time. We had a vote and the majority ruled to go on Friday night, mainly because we wanted to be up early for the National Park in the morning. Some weren't happy with the result but at least it was a fair vote.
Wednesday 16th April 2008
We got to the British Council ready for rehearsals and were having a look around the auditorium, which was nice. This was to be our Grand Performance! The stage was quite small, and carpeted and so I wasn't overly confident about the quality we would produce. The auditorium was surrounded by large glass windows, which doubled up as doors in most cases. Most of Ghana has buildings which involve the exterior in the rooms due to it being so hot, not many places have closed rooms.
So we had been bringing in the instruments through the glass door at the side and then all went to pose for a photo on the stage under the British Council Logo.
Someone from the British Council must have closed the window/door during this time.
Kassim realised that Derrik was not in the picture and so he rushed to get him..CRASHED straight through the window/door thinking it was still open.
It was awful. We just stood and watched him run right through - we all thought it was an open door - especially as it was one of the only windows without a logo on the glass. Most of us froze to the spot as he lay there in the middle of all this glass, Scott, Terri and others rushed over immedaitely to help him.
As he sat up we could clearly see blood spilling from his forehead, they soon washed this through and put pressure on it, he was rushed to hospital.
Everyone sat around for some time and Derrik made no effort to get people rehearsing or take their minds off what just happened. So myself and Terri decided we should occupy everyone and start practicing on the stage.
We did what we could, we felt that a lot of the day had been wasted as Derrik kept disappearing and did not seem to see the importance of running through the piece or even the cues so we would know when and where to enter and exit from! We did our best to sort this ourselves.
The show went quite well, although we did not have a very large audience. Derrik disappeared at the beginning of the show to get Martha some food, even though we had shared biscuits and snacks with her earlier. Tim-Afrik like to think they are very professional, but they dont seem to realise the importance of keeping to a schedule or backstage etiquette - especially when an audience are in.
I convinced Tim to start the show without Derrik, we would do our puppetry and if necessary, have an interval if he still wasn't back.
Luckily he arrived in time, but the whole show started 45 minutes late.
Tim-Afrik were also a nightmare backstage, our group are never silent but they NEVER cause a racket the way these guys did. Many of our younger girls kept telling the African boys to be quiet during the show. How do they not realise that this kind of thing is important?!
We found ourselves wishing it was over, they even stopped us from going on stage at one point when we were actually supposed to go on! It made us look bad.
Later on, we all met up outside our hotel bar. The guys from Tim-Afrik were a little off with us as we had stopped paying for EVERYTHING and I think they had also expected us to jump in and offer to pay for the broken window if necessary. We did a little speech for them and said that as it was our final performance we wanted to give them a gift, instead of giving them it on the final day. We presented them with the keyboard to keep - they leapt about and whooped and had their pictures taken with it.
It was lovely to see them so happy, but we wondered how long this would last before they expected something else from us? We all had some drinks and eventually disappeared to bed.
So we had been bringing in the instruments through the glass door at the side and then all went to pose for a photo on the stage under the British Council Logo.
Someone from the British Council must have closed the window/door during this time.
Kassim realised that Derrik was not in the picture and so he rushed to get him..CRASHED straight through the window/door thinking it was still open.
It was awful. We just stood and watched him run right through - we all thought it was an open door - especially as it was one of the only windows without a logo on the glass. Most of us froze to the spot as he lay there in the middle of all this glass, Scott, Terri and others rushed over immedaitely to help him.
As he sat up we could clearly see blood spilling from his forehead, they soon washed this through and put pressure on it, he was rushed to hospital.
Everyone sat around for some time and Derrik made no effort to get people rehearsing or take their minds off what just happened. So myself and Terri decided we should occupy everyone and start practicing on the stage.
We did what we could, we felt that a lot of the day had been wasted as Derrik kept disappearing and did not seem to see the importance of running through the piece or even the cues so we would know when and where to enter and exit from! We did our best to sort this ourselves.
The show went quite well, although we did not have a very large audience. Derrik disappeared at the beginning of the show to get Martha some food, even though we had shared biscuits and snacks with her earlier. Tim-Afrik like to think they are very professional, but they dont seem to realise the importance of keeping to a schedule or backstage etiquette - especially when an audience are in.
I convinced Tim to start the show without Derrik, we would do our puppetry and if necessary, have an interval if he still wasn't back.
Luckily he arrived in time, but the whole show started 45 minutes late.
Tim-Afrik were also a nightmare backstage, our group are never silent but they NEVER cause a racket the way these guys did. Many of our younger girls kept telling the African boys to be quiet during the show. How do they not realise that this kind of thing is important?!
We found ourselves wishing it was over, they even stopped us from going on stage at one point when we were actually supposed to go on! It made us look bad.
Later on, we all met up outside our hotel bar. The guys from Tim-Afrik were a little off with us as we had stopped paying for EVERYTHING and I think they had also expected us to jump in and offer to pay for the broken window if necessary. We did a little speech for them and said that as it was our final performance we wanted to give them a gift, instead of giving them it on the final day. We presented them with the keyboard to keep - they leapt about and whooped and had their pictures taken with it.
It was lovely to see them so happy, but we wondered how long this would last before they expected something else from us? We all had some drinks and eventually disappeared to bed.
TUESDAY 15th April 2008
Today was brilliant, we walked through Accra and saw a lot of the city close up which was very different from being in the minibus. We went to the beach where everyone got the chance to jump over waves, play football and sunbathe, after two hours we felt that the sun was too hot to keep everyone out in the open so we had some pineapple in the shade and then set off to the Arts market. This was a brilliant experience, Kassim and Sanusi kept an eye on us we walked around the stall, making sure we were no ripped off by any of the sellers and we all got some very nice things to bring home. All of the stalls were small huts not far from the beach and there were so many people carving masks, drums, jewellery and other unusual items. They were all very friendly and one man asked which part of England we were from. Scott told him 'London' as it is usually easier, he said 'oh, I've only been to Lincolnshire!'.
We had a stop at a lovely cafe/restaurant and drank all of the fizzy drinks from cold glass bottles (oh and cans still have the OLD ring pull on over here) Then we went shopping in the fabric market and saw some wonderful clothes and materials and hats. Abbi bartered with everyone and got loads of things for cheap - she can get away with anything! We came back for drinks and have found a fast food place which serves pizza, so we are heading there in 5 minutes. Nearly everywhere here just serves Chicken - but you do get the option of have rice OR chips with it!
We had a stop at a lovely cafe/restaurant and drank all of the fizzy drinks from cold glass bottles (oh and cans still have the OLD ring pull on over here) Then we went shopping in the fabric market and saw some wonderful clothes and materials and hats. Abbi bartered with everyone and got loads of things for cheap - she can get away with anything! We came back for drinks and have found a fast food place which serves pizza, so we are heading there in 5 minutes. Nearly everywhere here just serves Chicken - but you do get the option of have rice OR chips with it!
MONDAY 14th April 2008
More rehearsals, although now that we are fitting in well in the city and feel more comfortable, Fusion leaders are definitely taking more control in starting and stopping rehearsals - we feel its about time they adapted to us, just a little bit!
We got showered and changed and headed off to the Goeth Institute to perform, a very posh and large building, very white! This is an outdoor performance and we have included a section where the 'blacks' meet the 'whites' for the very first time, at first they are afraid but gradually they realise they can work together etc. Abbi and Vicky both have solo sections and they got given slightly different costumes. We have also created a short puppetry, dance piece at the demand of Derek. I start the performance with some improvisation with my marionette puppet, it seemed to go ok, phew! Our pupperty piece goes fairly well but needs more work.
Well, the main part of the show, now the dancing is exceptional, especially from TimAfrik. But the new guy who is doing the music gets the whole thing wrong, and his CD player does not work very well! The parts with live music are fine but we take cues from some of the recorded music, especially our Muse dance. So we are stood there trying to keep it going, Joe has to start improvising on the keyboard playing Muse for us to dance to as best he can but it helps and we all pull together and teamwork saves the day. The last dance goes well and its a lot of fun.
We then have to have a quick chat to Tim and explain that we are not happy with how much the schedule has changed and explain some more of our culture, he wanted us to start visiting families of all the dancers but we know that the group need some time to relax and have fun and do things that we want to do.
We got showered and changed and headed off to the Goeth Institute to perform, a very posh and large building, very white! This is an outdoor performance and we have included a section where the 'blacks' meet the 'whites' for the very first time, at first they are afraid but gradually they realise they can work together etc. Abbi and Vicky both have solo sections and they got given slightly different costumes. We have also created a short puppetry, dance piece at the demand of Derek. I start the performance with some improvisation with my marionette puppet, it seemed to go ok, phew! Our pupperty piece goes fairly well but needs more work.
Well, the main part of the show, now the dancing is exceptional, especially from TimAfrik. But the new guy who is doing the music gets the whole thing wrong, and his CD player does not work very well! The parts with live music are fine but we take cues from some of the recorded music, especially our Muse dance. So we are stood there trying to keep it going, Joe has to start improvising on the keyboard playing Muse for us to dance to as best he can but it helps and we all pull together and teamwork saves the day. The last dance goes well and its a lot of fun.
We then have to have a quick chat to Tim and explain that we are not happy with how much the schedule has changed and explain some more of our culture, he wanted us to start visiting families of all the dancers but we know that the group need some time to relax and have fun and do things that we want to do.
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